The Summit preparation is amping up and we are excited to announce we have now confirmed a huge 52 impact investment leaders who will be joining us to share their insights across our impact investment Deals, Deep Dives and Dynamics. Your stellar lineup features world-renowned superstars in this fast growing sector globally.

One of the things that is most commented about in impact investing is demonstrating deal flow – and of course, institutional deal flow.

We hear you.

And we’re responding.

At this year’s Impact Investment Summit we’ll have six institutional deals featured as well as a number of deal deep dives, where deals are unpacked to help the audience understand how it was put together, why it chose particular measurement outcomes and how it secured investment – and of course, what the investment methodology is.

We’re really looking forward to bringing the band back together (i.e. the community!), and are thrilled to have global leaders joining us from around the world.

We’ll have another leader – closer to home – at the Summit. I’m delighted to let you know that The Hon Mike Baird MP, Premier of NSW will be opening the festivities on Wednesday 26 October over our caffeine hits.

I left a career as a political staffer years ago because I wanted to actually spend my doing something that would make a real difference. I didn’t want to spend my time dealing with clusters of crisis after crisis.

I’m reflecting on this now because I’ve just written a piece on the horrendous events in Syria. It took me 30 minutes to blast out, but generally, the energy I expended was negative.

Most of us can’t function without our initial caffeine hit. In fact, my brother says that it’s a war crime to try and converse with him until he’s had his first coffee.

I’m writing to assure you that we also have this covered at this year’s Asia Pacific Impact Investment Summit. I promise, you won’t need to switch on the functioning part of your brain until you’ve had a caffeine hit, which will be available to you as you walk in the door at the Darling Island wharf.

A new way of doing business is taking hold, one that harnesses the power of capital markets to deliver social and environmental change. Impact investment is an established, sizeable and global financial market hungry for knowledge sharing, know how, innovation and expertise.

Fast catching the attention of the world’s leading economies, the market for impact investing is estimated to reach US$500 billion– $1 trillion globally, over the next decade.